Somewhere deep within the woods of Cornwall, a timeless force is stirring. Unseen beneath the ancient burial mound, known locally as Barrow Hill, a forgotten myth awakens. Use archaeology to discover that the barrow is more than just a collection of forgotten standing stones.

Follow the Dark Path into a world of Druidic lore and Celtic myths. It is the Autumn Equinox on Barrow Hill, a time of great power, when the ancient standing stones are at their most powerful and dangerous. You have one night to make the offerings, follow the Dark Path and escape Barrow Hill .

Friday, 26 May 2017

After several years, the results of the Reading The Hurlers project are presented tonight at Carnglaze Caverns, Cornwall.

The project was a combined Archaeology and Geology study on Bodmin Moor, featuring the 3 Hurlers stone circles and a potential 4th circle which was investigated during the 2016 Archaeology dig.

Here is a 3D scan of Trench F from the Archaeology dig where we uncovered a key stone, potential packing material and a pit where this stone was most probably stood upright long ago, in addition to a fabulous flint arrow head.

The geological survey of the moor stone aimed to profile the area’s granite with the ultimate goal to try and identify the sources of granite which the standing stones of the Hurlers were quarried from. Were circles built from material from different locations, and in what order? How far did ancient man move the stones that form the Hurlers and other surrounding sites?

Thursday, 25 May 2017

Featuring theme music and atmospheric location tracks from Barrow Hill: The Dark Path, including the music from Barrow Hill Radio presented by Emma Harry. 46 tracks. A 7 Page PDF booklet provides full track listings and game artwork. 116 minutes, nearly 2 hours of audio.

Follow the Dark Path into a world of Druidic lore and Celtic myths. It
is the Autumn Equinox on Barrow Hill, a time of great power, when the
ancient standing stones are at their most powerful and dangerous. You
have one night to make the offerings, follow the Dark Path and escape
Barrow Hill.

Somewhere deep within the woods of Cornwall, a timeless force is
stirring. Unseen beneath the ancient burial mound, known locally as
Barrow Hill, a forgotten myth awakens. Use archaeology to discover that
the barrow is more than just a collection of forgotten standing stones.

Friday, 5 May 2017

Snuggled between England (Offa's Dyke borders one side of the valley) and the Brecon Beacons of Wales, the Vale of Ewyas has a handful of hidden treasures worth seeking, especially if you don’t mind a good climb.

The 12th Century priory at Llanthony is like an Elven ruin; pale stonework and delicate tracery, in a beautiful setting, constantly buzzing with bird life. The Priory struggled, throughout history, as the egger monks failed to convince the heathen mountain men (grrr!)

Llanthony was forgotten long before Henry the 8th sacked the monastic system of Briton. It was also home for the night, which was fabulously spooky, and my fellow explorer Jonathan will have more to say on that soon, as it is the setting of a classic ghost story.

Setting out: The main planned walk of this Welsh trip was to climb Bâl Mawr, one of the hillsides that tower over the priory, sulking on a gloomy day under the clouds. It’s a steady climb from the Priory, roughly west and mostly upwards.

It is easy to get disorientated when the fog rolls in, or in this case the clouds descend, making landmarks and waypoints essential to not get completely lost! Our destination was the rather uninteresting sounding ‘Pile of Stones’ on Bâl Bach. But, I can admit to some relief at seeing the ‘arrow head’ loom up before us.

After adding a couple of stones to the pile, the plan was to walk along the top ridge, Northwards, to a trail which would wind down into the Vale and the village of Capel-y-ffin.

On the way we found a few interesting locations, all videogame worthy, such as The Druid’s Table a collection of huge rocks seeming to remain in situ thanks to the firm grasp of the oak tree above. If ever there was a place to sacrifice a lamb, this would be it. I didn’t. Somebody already had!!

Lots of large bracket fungus; really old too, this one had moss growing on it! It’s a miracle it has survive the harsh landscape and wiccan foragers. I’m guessing the local Witches go to the nearest supermarket instead.

The fauna of the hillside changes with the altitude; horsetail, bracken, heather and moorland grasses give way to lush green fields, clearly cultivated 1000 of years ago, mostly for the grazing of sheep.

The ‘villiage’ of Capel-y-ffin is a funny place, mostly one big house and a very cute chapel. The Afon Honddu river tumbles along beside the chapel built in 1762, replacing an earlier 15th-century structure. For a moment, the sun came out, so we took a rest and stopped to eat our baps. All felt well with the world after the glowering dark mountains.

Nearly forgot to mention that there is no phone signal At All in the valley, or on the mountain tops! Yay. The Priory website does mention that there is no phone signal or TV or wifi in The Black Mountains, but I thought I would catch a cheeky bar at the highest point, but no visiting the isolated valley is a totally isolating experience.

A productive trip, a chance to get away and capture lots of new textures, 3d mapping and recording sounds for future games. With my plan to move into 3D by the end of the year, building up a good new collection of textures and shapes will help create some fantastic realistic landscapes.

Thursday, 2 March 2017

A few photos from a walk this afternoon, not down The Dark Path, but up, into Cornwall’s Industrial past. Caradon Hill is dotted with cairns, suspicious mounds and deep mines, so any direction you walk you are bound to find something interesting, especially if you are eyeing the landscape with a gamers eye.

A moorland pony on an old mining tip (spoils and loading platforms), from the nearby mine, busy chomping the turf.

The weather was threatening to become very stormy, as we approached the first mine building, adding to a sense of gloom. Ravens (the largest of the Corvus family) have made a nest in the upper window, a massive twiggy stack, like something out of legend.

Passing through a cool tunnel, somewhere dripping and dark, is often where you will find this character, always holding a twig.

The buildings are quite striking, looking more like weird churches, with the long high ‘window’ (the old steam pump would have filled the building, powered by the furnace that raged under the chimney stacks).

To the south of the mine there is a train/tram tunnel, one of many that created a network that connected the moor to the coast, where the metals and minerals were loaded onto ships on Buller Quay, in Looe!

There are many spots, across Caradon Hill, where you can see old
chimneys and ruinous pump houses in every direction. It was hard to
imagine the noise and smoke of an industrial past, as we stomped on, to
the next destination.

This ‘sett’ of Cornish mines surrounds the hill, which must be riddled with passages and mines, in all directions. There have been several eras of activity, starting with Bronze Age people, later medieval times saw a lot of tin mining, operating around the river, with the height of industrial mining in the early 1800’s, when they took everything of anything! 650,000 tonnes of copper ore were mined in three decades. That’s a lot of light bulbs and toasters.

Caradon is the local source of television, and when I say ‘local’, I mean the signal is the TV supply for all the surrounding areas, including Looe, on the coast. Weather permitting.

This small arched space is a bit of a mystery; it has a back wall, same era as the arch, with no obvious use. I did think ‘toilet’ at first, then a well or spring. There is a curious hole in the back, but it’s still a weird little curio. Answers on a virtual postcard please!

A nice example of natural granite, weathered but unbroken. Good job, ‘cos here comes the rain!

A rare glimpse into an open mine shaft. Lots of the old shafts are hidden under turf, or fenced off, for good reason. But, this one has a view hole, which is really neat. Pit props and chains are visible for quite a way, and the hole is surprisingly deep. There’s a small reservoir above the mine, on the upper bank, so it’s a weird wonder that the mines are so well preserved.

Looking in the direction of the East-West ‘lode’, the once rich seam has obvious markers in the form of chimney stacks. The Caradon Sett of mines was enormous in its ambition, many of the buildings still standing, as they are built from tough granite.

Recent sensitive repairs and restoration means many are open to explore, without the risk of a sudden, horrible death from falling masonry. Granite packs a punch.

Oblivion Gate?

He’s always on his bloody phone!

Flora on the hill is distinctive; there’s the ever present gorse, with vivid yellow flowers, but also a surprising number of oak trees. I was reminded of Wist’s Wood in places, so if you’re into Druidism or folklore, go have a wander. It’s brilliantly isolating on the hill, with buzzards mewing, overhead.

I think this is Witches’ Butter, but don’t trust my info if you are foraging. Instead, trust the always reliable Wikipedia instead. (Don’t)

There be gold in them thar hills, but you’d have to be a fool to find it...

Again, only a thought, but this looks like a lump of copper ore, green from oxidisation. They missed a bit!

The basin valley is formed by the river, which continues down to the nearby village of Crow’s Nest (cool name). It’s a whopping great basin, with signs that it was a used for loading and transportation by trains. The water continues down, off the moor, and eventually becomes the River Seaton.

Who needs Mars? This is a perfect spot to act out scenes from your favourite sci-fi show. We got through a few lines of Blake’s 7, Doctor Who and, of course, The Martian. Thankfully we didn’t experiment with growing potatoes, as we had a packed lunch. Plus, there are enough sheep on Caradon Hill to supply a massive Easter carvery.